Happy Garden - November 6, 2008

Vol. 3, Num. 44, November 6, 2008 (Read It Online) This week we have an article about Cutting Back Perennials In The Fall. Thank you for everyone that submitted a gardening photo! Do you have any fall pictures to share from your garden? Feel free to submit them on the photo contest page. Thanks for reading, Susan Send to a Friend! Submit Your Gardening Tips Submit Photos of Your Garden Submit a Gardening Request Edit Your Subscriptions: To edit your ThriftyFun subscriptions, click the Update Profile/Email Address link at the bottom of this newsletter. Today's newsletter contains: Photos: Garden: Angel Trumpet Bush Garden: Fall Yard Decorations Garden: Roses In Bloom Garden: Last Of Summer Sunflowers Garden: Sunflower Showoff Tips and Articles: Cutting Back Perennials In The Fall Recycle Carpet to Create Flowerbed New Requests: Planting Rooted Willow Tree Branches Flowers to Grow in Nashville, TN Growing a Banana Plant in Texas Burning Bush Losing Its Leaves Pests Eating a Sweet Potato Plant Growing a Plant in Water Using Black Tights for Tying Plants Passion Plant Has Sour Fruit Flying Bugs on Miniature Rose Bush Today's Sponsor: Crafting for Fun and Money! If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. More Information: Click Here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_craft.ldml Photos: Garden: Angel Trumpet Bush This is a angel trumpet bush, it blooms from July to here it is in late October. Don't know how long it will bloom. Last year it was in late November. The smell from this plant is wonderful. The plant, if eaten, is highly poisonous. So you need to keep kids and pets away. By Madeline from Jacksonville, AL Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf86255841.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Garden: Fall Yard Decorations Even though we live in a mobile home, I try and make it homey. I love to decorate for fall. The hubby brought the corn stalks and cat tails home for me one day and we fixed up the front to look really nice. How do you like my home! By Pat from West VA Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf29186181.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Garden: Roses In Bloom Mass of roses in bloom. By Sherry from Poulsbo, WA Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf33426182.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Garden: Last Of Summer Sunflowers Last of the summer sunflowers By Sherry from Poulsbo WA Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf45681194.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Garden: Sunflower Showoff Sunflower showoff By Diane from Sallisaw, OK Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf99734646.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Tips and Articles: Cutting Back Perennials In The Fall By Ellen Brown Cleaning up the garden in the fall can be a bit confusing, especially when it comes to cutting back perennials. Should you leave them alone or cut them back as soon as they fade? The answer, of course, depends on the plant. When to Leave Them Alone In general, as long as your perennials look good, leave them alone. Sure, some may die back after the first heavy frost, but others will remain standing and add interest to the garden all winter long. Advantages of leaving dried seed heads and foliage of healthy plants intact until next spring: Aesthetic appeal. Ornamental grasses and evergreens, for example, look great in the winter. Provides food and shelter for native animals and birds. Beneficial insects overwinter in plant debris. In cold climates, dead plant foliage traps leaves and snow (insulation and moisture). This helps improve its chances for survival over winter while helping to protect other garden plants. Intact plants serve as a reminder of where your plants are when it comes time to add plants in the spring. When to Cut Them Back Certain plants benefit from being cut back in the fall. Rarely is this important aesthetically, but from a sanitary standpoint, it can make or break your next growing season. If insects or diseases attacked some of your perennials this year, the best thing to do is cut them back. This reduces the chances of carrying over attacks to the next season and eliminates over-wintering sites for rodents or harmful insects. Make sure you dispose of damaged plant debris in the garbage and not the compost pile. Most perennials can be safely cut back to within a couple of inches of the ground. Visibly damaged or infested foliage should be removed as soon as possible, but if you are cutting back foliage as a preventive measure, wait until after several hard frosts have killed back the tops. Depending on the plants, hand pruners, hedge clippers, or even scissors will work fine, just make sure the cutting edges are sharp. Advantages to cutting your perennials back in the fall: Gets rid of plant debris damaged by insects or disease. Eliminates places for rodents or harmful insects to spend the winter. Gives the garden with a neat, clean appearance. Saves time in the spring in zones with short growing seasons (Its still a good idea to save a stem or two to trap leaves and snow.) Apply Mulch After Cutting If you decide to cut back your perennials in the fall, take the opportunity to apply some mulch before winter. With the stems and foliage gone from your plants, you will have plenty of room to maneuver. Applying mulch will help your perennials conserve moisture going into the winter, and protect the roots and crowns from cold damage and frost heaving. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf83136095.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Recycle Carpet to Create Flowerbed Recycle that old carpet, and shrink the landfills. Cut the carpet in to any shape, you want your flower bed to be. Lay the carpet face down, and cover with mulch. You use less mulch and it last for years and years. When you are ready to plant, cut a X and plant.This is not organic for your vegetable garden. Source: A friend told me this, years ago. By Laura from Spartangurg, SC Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf72244161.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Contest! Tip Contest Submit a Tip or Recipe! Photo Contest Submit a tip with photo! The above contests are weekly. We pick 2 tip winners, 2 photo winners (1 photo and 1 pet photo) and 1 recipe winner at the end of each week. Each winner will win $25! My Frugal Life Submit a My Frugal Life Essay! New Requests: Planting Rooted Willow Tree Branches I recently cut a bunch of pencil size limbs from my willow tree. I placed them in a vase full of water. This was about a month ago. They are growing roots like crazy. It is early November in upstate NY. What do I do with them now? Start transplanting them into pots, etc.? I really wanted to put them in the ground, but its close to Winter. Hardiness Zone: 5b Eric from Upstate, NY Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf39514963.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Flowers to Grow in Nashville, TN What flowers can I plant in Nashville that will last through the spring? Hardiness Zone: 7a Laurie from Nashville, TN Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf88746122.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Growing a Banana Plant in Texas We were given a small banana tree when the neighbors were minimizing their stand. It isn't doing too well right now. Considering the weather, the fact it was not re-planted for a few days, and that it was planted in the shade. I'd like to purchase one that is correct for this climate and start again in the spring. Any suggestions? Hardiness Zone: 8a Holly from Richardson, TX Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf23115669.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Burning Bush Losing Its Leaves Half of my burning bushes have lost their leaves and look dead but they are not. What can I do? I take care of them for a lady and she is upset about this. This is their 2nd year and they are still green, they did not change colors. I have a row of about 20. Thanks. J. Wilson Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf72106738.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Pests Eating a Sweet Potato Plant I have a sweet potato plant that something is eating on, it has little holes. I looked to see if I could find what was eating the leaves but did not see anything. This is a border plant or used for hanging baskets. Darlene from Carriere, MS Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf98327487.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Growing a Plant in Water I am growing a plant in water. How do you keep the slime and mold out of the container. Nancy from Austin, AR Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf88517598.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Using Black Tights for Tying Plants Have you ever used these for tying plants, Opaque Black nylon tights? These were my 17 yr old granddaughter's. I know tan color are used but what about black? Karina Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf40109173.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Passion Plant Has Sour Fruit I have a very healthy passion fruit plant that is producing hundreds of fruit. Unfortunately, the fruits are sour, although the original parent plant had sweet fruits. Now my plant serves mainly as decoration as the fruit is too sour to enjoy. Is there a means, maybe by way of using specific fertilizers, that will make the fruits sweet? Hardiness Zone: 11 marangman from Malaysia Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf10008567.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Flying Bugs on Miniature Rose Bush I have a miniature rose bush with flying bugs everywhere. I have it isolated in the bathroom and have been spraying it with soapy water. Any suggestions on killing the flying bugs? Kathy from Bel Air, MD Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf97746730.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Rate It: | Print Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here Today's Sponsor: Crafting for Fun and Money! If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. More Information: Click Here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_craft.ldml More Stuff Seed Swap! Swap seeds with other ThriftyFun.com users. Submit a Request... Frugal solutions to everyday problems.